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If you are in business long enough you will have to deal with some bad publicity. Everyone has unhappy customers. Some unhappy customers go to the press or put it on a website to complain. I personally have complained via the web about a company I was unhappy with. You have to realize it is part of business. You can choose to let the bad publicity sit there. What will happen? Well, you cannot control the consequences. You might have a lot of potential customers turn away from you. You could open yourself up for other type of lawsuits because people see vulnerability. If you never clear it up, you will never know when it will come back. I never recommend ignoring bad publicity, especially in an emergency.
I do recommend being ready for these emergencies. You can do a lot of things to help mitigate the backlash. You can make sure only one spokes person from the company talks to media. Right now, as I write this article, Sarah Palin is advocating that people pray. Will it answer all her detractors? No, but it will make some people feel that she is concerned about the trend that is happening and her contribution to it. For a lot of people that is enough. After all, she did not force the man to pull the trigger. Palin did have the courage to speak for herself and not allow a spokes person to speak for her during this tragic time. Having a spokes person speak for you when bad things are happening makes you look guilty.